Reptile Encounters Presents: The Weird Lizard List!

By Reptile Encounters/20 November 2014

Be they gecko, skink or almighty Godzilla himself, lizards are always a little (if not a lot) weird. With their beady-eyed, creepily camouflaged demeanours and general air of prehistoric mystery, these guys have us gobsmacked – so we’ve rounded up eight of the greatest in all their freaky glory.

1. Thorny Dragon

Let’s start with this thorny little devil, the Thorny Dragon (who’s nickname, is in fact Thorny Devil). Not only does his spikey armour make him appear terribly unpalatable, when in a pickle, he’s quick to tuck his noggin between his legs and pull out a false head. Talk about being two-faced!

From the thorniest of devils to the devil himself, and while we’re sure the Satanic Leaf Tailed Gecko is a lovely guy, this Madagascar native gives off quite the evil vibe. And if he was plotting a naughty scheme he’d be well disguised, with his colour, texture and leaf-like tail making quite the cunning camouflage.

Resembling a tree-hugging Triceratops, this chameleon has the multi-coloured coolness, crab-like hands and curly tail of its creed, and the males also sport three horns. But don’t be fooled, these lads are lovers, not fighters – asserting their dominance through colour displays.

Now to another horned fellow, the Rhinoceros Iguana – sadly an endangered species (much like their larger mammal namesake). More positive commonalties are their horned snout, grey hue and relative size. These guys can grow up to 136cm in length, making them one of the largest iguanas in the world.

At the other end of the size spectrum is this little guy, and there’s no prize for guessing how he got dubbed the Cape Dwarf Chameleon. Native to the South African province of the Western Cape, these cute creatures are more talk than tall, with tongues twice as long as their bodies.

Yes, it’s a lizard, despite looking more like an albino earthworm. The Mexican Mole lizard is unique (and plain weird) in its ability to move like a snake, while also sporting perfectly good limbs. These slithering sand lovers are native to Baja California, and true to their name, Mexico.

As far as this Iguana’s concerned, it’s better down where it’s wetter. The Marine Iguana has the uncanny ability to both live and forage under water, and while they prefer the pleasantly warm shores of the Galápagos Islands, they’ve been found nearly 10 meters deep under water.

From the seas to the skies, it’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s the Flying Gecko! Well, technically they glide – up to 60 metres at that. There’s six species of these Flying (or Parachute) geckos and they’ve got their landings well and truly sorted, executing an incoming “swoop” to soften the blow.